Baseball: Geneva holds off late Wheaton Warrenville South rally to take conference opener, stay unbeaten

By the end of the second inning Monday, the Wheaton Warrenville South fans were just hoping that the Tigers would score a run.

But with two outs in the seventh with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, they were cheering and hoping that the Tigers would complete the comeback and draw even.

But in the end, it was the Geneva fans that went home happy, as the Vikings came away with a 14-10 victory over the Tigers to take the first of a three-game series to start DuKane Conference play Monday.

WW South (4-3, 1-0), which entered the final inning down 14-6, got the jump on Vikings reliever Logan Bova. After getting two hits and three walks to pull the game to 14-9 and load the bases with only one out, Geneva coach Brad Wendell put Shane Webb into the game.

Despite walking in another run and bringing the tying run to the plate, Webb got the final two outs, including a hard line drive to second base to end the game.

“No team’s ever out of it until the last pitch,” Wendell said. “We just have to stay in focus throughout the whole entire process, even when you’re up eight or nine runs.”

The Vikings’ offense proved to be the difference-maker in the game. Their 14 runs marked the seventh time so far this season that they’ve eclipsed the 10-run mark in nine games.

“The guys have been really disciplined in picking their pitches and we’ve been hitting it hard and have been putting up crooked numbers as a result,” Wendell said. “We know that there are good arms out there and we just have to stay competitive.”

Leading the charge on offense was Joey Cosentino, who finished the game 2 for 2 with a double and five runs batted in. Cosentino, who has gotten hit by a pitch seven times so far this season, said he was happy to get hits and not get hit.

“It felt great. I’m done getting hit,” he said. “But I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They got on base, and I got them home. Without that, I wouldn’t have five RBIs.”

Geneva (9-0, 1-0) started off hot out of the gate with back-to-back four-run innings. Nate Stempowski started the scoring with a bloop single that scored two. After Bryce Breon walked, an RBI groundout from Chase Sorrentino and Cosentino sacrifice fly doubled the lead.

The Vikings chased out WW South starter Drew Eger with two outs in the bottom of the second after he loaded the bases and gave up back-to-back walks to score two more. After Ryne Adler came on in relief, Sorrentino knocked a double to left field to score and get to 8-0.

“I was a little nervous at first,” Sorrentino said. “I think I was down 1-2 in the count, but I kept battling and then got a base hit down the line.”

Sorrentino would get another two-run hit off of Adler, once again with two outs, but was thrown out trying to leg out the hit for a double.

The Vikings almost ended the game in the fifth with another four-run inning, which was capped off with a two-run home run by Breon, to make it 14-5.

Breon also started the game for the Vikings. He went six innings and allowed six runs (three earned) on seven hits while striking out five.

The Tigers, who were down by as many as nine runs, showed that they had the fight to come back. WW South coach John Scherrman said that while the inconsistencies on the mound and around the field wasn’t great, he has to give credit where credit was due.

“Their starter shut us down early,” Scherrman said. “But I have to give credit to our guys for continuing to fight and battle to come back.”

Jayce Maranell led the Tigers in the comeback attempt after going 3 for 4 at the plate with three RBIs and two runs scored. He also launched a solo homer over the center field fence to start the top of the sixth inning.

“That was my first big hit of the year, and it felt very good,” Maranell said. “I’ve got many more to come though.”

Maranell kicked off the scoring in the fourth with an RBI double to score Chris Myers. After scoring on an error from Sorrentino, Jacob Conover launched a two-run shot to bring them to 8-4.

Despite the inconsistencies on the mound, the Tigers still had good performances from Adler, who only allowed the two hits from Sorrentino, and Sean Doherty, who didn’t allow a hit in the final 1 1/3 innings of play.

“They settled things down by throwing strikes, and that just tells you the value and importance of doing that,” Scherrman said.

The Vikings and Tigers are set to square off in Game 2 of the series at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at WW South. While Geneva will hope to keep its winning streak going, Scherrman hopes that with a little better pitching and defense, WW South will ride the confidence to pull out a couple wins to end the series.

And the Tigers sure do have some confidence.

“We’re not going to quit, no matter what the score is,” Maranell said. “And I think that we’re going to win this series.”